"How to Read a French Fry, and Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science," by Russ Parsons, Houghton Mifflin, $14, 335 pp.
By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published October 29, 2003
Ever wonder why you can stick your hand in a 400-degree oven but not into a pot of 200-degree oil, or just why chopping onions makes many of us weep?
Russ Parsons, a Los Angeles Times food writer, takes a scientific approach in How to Read a French Fry, and Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science.
This is a cookbook with a difference. It doesn't just tell you how to cook, it explains how cooking works.
The title, for example, has to do with the aging that affects cooking oils. There are five stages of oil life, from break-in oil to runaway oil.
You might think the freshest oil is best, but break-in oil will not even brown foods cooked in it. The fry cook's secret? Add a little old oil to every new batch.
That's just part of a chapter that addresses fear of frying - though we love fried foods, most of us rarely prepare them - then follows up with an assortment of recipes applying the principles, from pan-fried chicken with tomatoes and olives to peach fritters.
The "Miracle in a Shell" chapter focuses on the amazing functions of the egg in cooking, and in "Fat, Flour and Fear" Parsons explains the chemical reactions that produce or doom a piecrust.
Some of the science exposes food myths: Marinades are "closer to aromatherapy than cooking" and do little to tenderize meat.
The book includes lots of helpful tips and more than 100 recipes, from appetizers to desserts.
Next time you whip up a protein matrix of eggs, milk, cream and chocolate - otherwise known as pots de creme - you'll understand that mouthful of chocolate silk is science, not magic. Well, mostly.
